I'm looking at some clematis on eBay. I've never bought any before so I'm wondering if the pricing is good. They are asking 6.99 per plant. Is that a reasonable price?
Questions about pricing
Do they show a photo of the roots or mention if it's two year old stock or three year old stock? What is the name of the company just in case anyone here has dealt with them before?
I've had excellent results with the cheap ones that Wal Mart sells and I know of one person who even managed to get a Michigan Bulb Company clematis to grow lush and beautiful. So much is determined by the gardener and how the clematis planted and tended.
ditto what pirl said
Janet
Pirl is right..ask how old these are...older..bigger and better rootsystems
this isn't a direct answer to your question, but I've been finding lots of well rooted clems on sale by making the rounds of all the local nurseries and rummaging through their end-of-season stock. Paid $7 for a huge clem in a 3 gallon pot. That was my best find, but have about 5 rescued clems in gallon pots lined up waiting to be planted -- paid $8 for each of those. Got to act quick, though, as that stuff's moving out to make room for new fall stock.
Meanwhile, as Pirl says, 6.99 is only a good deal if the plants are well along and healthy.
Lolly, it also depends on the cultivar. Are these hard-to-find cultivars or something fairly common, like Henryi or Nelly Moser? If it's something you could find in your local nursery, you might be best off selecting them in person. If it's something that you can't find locally, then $6.99 is an excellent price for anything 3-1/2" and up. Make sure it's not a cell before bidding, though. Some unscrupulous vendors will try to sell you a 2" to 2-1/2" cell and claim it's already 2-3 years old because they stuck it in a bigger pot.
That's very true, Evey. For the few big ones I've seen out here they aren't even re-potted correctly from little plug to big pot as the netting on the plug can still be seen and then they have the nerve to hold them for one year like that and sell them for $69.99. It might be a different story if they were highly unusual clematis but they're Henryi, Jackmanii and a host of others we all know.
Pirl, leaving the starter "net" on when repotting is fairly common, and actually is safer for the young roots. As there are so few licensed growers in the U.S., a great number of resellers and nurseries purchase the cell plugs for clems from the grower (in the nets) and then grow them out. It's kind of like J&P Roses and Weeks Roses being the dominant suppliers for the patented roses, except that in this case the licensed clem growers are transferring the time and risk of the grow-out process to the resellers. The cell plugs are typically 1 year old, and then a reseller can either choose to pot them up to a 4", a quart, or a gallon-size for an additional growing period. What surprises me is how many European nurseries I found that are advertising gallon-size one-year-old plants. I don't see how they could have a fully rooted gallon from a year-old clem plant.
The place out here pots them up as one gallon plants. Needless to say I don't buy from them.
My thought was that the plug shouldn't be visible from just looking at the plant. I would have though burying it 3" would be better but I may be wrong.
Ohhh, I thought you meant that when you went to plant the clem, you could see the net. You're correct, unless the dirt has displaced in shipping or the plant is in a smaller 4" pot, the plant should be further down than that... especially if it's a gallon-size planting!
OK, we're both on the same track now. It probably comes from lack of direction or knowledge on the part of the one doing the planting.